NEW REPORT: A fresh impetus for wind power in Latin America

Wind power in Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced exponential growth since the region's first commercial wind farm began operating in Costa Rica in 1996. 

Adoption was initially slow but investment in new projects has risen sharply over the past 15 years, spurred by government incentives for renewable energy and falling technology costs. 

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Brazil has emerged as a regional leader, capitalizing on its vast wind resources and the pro-market policies of successive governments. The country now has 31GW of installed wind capacity spread among more than 1,000 wind farms.

Mexico's wind sector advanced rapidly on the back of sweeping 2013 energy reforms before stalling under the statist approach of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. There is hope that change could be in the offing under President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, an environmentalist and clean energy advocate.

Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, meanwhile, have witnessed encouraging progress, each contributing to a diversified regional power market. 

Challenges such as grid stability, permitting bottlenecks and financing barriers persist, though they are being addressed to varying degrees of success through innovation and policy frameworks. 

An increasingly important driver of new wind power investment is the nascent green hydrogen segment. Producers of green hydrogen require large volumes of renewable energy, and wind projects – especially offshore developments – are seen as ideal contributors because of their scalability.

In addition, excess power supply from wind farms can be used to produce clean hydrogen, which in turn can be stored and converted back to electricity via fuel cells or combustion in gas turbines. 

It is against this backdrop that wind power is now a pivotal component of the region's collective strategy to meet rising energy demand while achieving its carbon reduction goals.

The full report can be seen here